Category: Food

It was only a matter of time. The coronavirus is wreaking havoc with our health, our jobs, and now it’s busting a big hole in our grocery budgets. The prices on groceries for April were actually the highest they’ve been in decades!

Prices at your supermarket are rising sharply because coronavirus has disrupted the food supply chain. You’ve been hearing for weeks that there are cracks in the supply chain even though the government has tried to deny it. It is just starting to reach into your pocketbook and the score for now looks like we are in trouble. When you are out of work, as over 30 million Americans are right now, the last thing you want is to have prices on groceries busting wide open!

If you can’t remember the last time you joined your family and friends for a big shindig down at your favorite local restaurant, you are not alone. I can’t either and neither can millions of other people these days. With the coming of COVID-19, restaurant dining rooms are closed and any of the ones that are open are being forced to serve take-out or delivery only. Frankly, that just isn’t the same thing to me. You do lose a little of the “flavor” (pardon the pun) carrying home a brown bag. So that makes it a real challenge to make your dining at home in any way special or fun. That raises the question: “Can it ever equal dining out and be your new normal dining out experience?”

There Are Adjustments

You have always had to prepare dinners at home, haven’t you? Sorry, if you are one of the ones who always did pick-up, delivery, or constantly dined out for reasons which I will never I understand and neither will your wallet! For now, those days are over (which may actually be forcing you to save some money), so what will you do?

It may be something that you thought was totally unthinkable a few short weeks ago, but the reality of the coronavirus pandemic is facing everyone right now, and for some it is both a health and a financial nightmare. If you recently lost your job, are not getting any unemployment compensation, haven’t received any stimulus check yet, or have no emergency funds to back you and your family up, you may now need and qualify to get food stamps.

The “Families First Coronavirus Response Act” and Food Stamps

In general, people usually need to meet some kind of work requirement to be eligible for SNAP (otherwise known as food stamps), but those rules under the new pandemic guidelines are now in suspension so that losing your job and not being able to find work right now will not disqualify you.

One of the big concerns, among the many other concerns we have during the coronavirus pandemic, is about getting food. Although there is no real food shortage, shoppers are stripping stores of staples and straining the process of restocking. It is very apparent that many people are afraid that if they don’t stock up and even horde food, they may run out over time while we are hunkered down in our homes. Others who have lost their livelihoods due to the restrictions may find it difficult to afford to buy food, while seniors and other vulnerable people may be worried about going out to shop. That’s why it’s more important than ever to know about places that help with food.

The closing of our borders because of the spread of the virus, especially to the south and Mexico, is going to create a shortage of workers who pick and process the fresh fruits and vegetables we will need shortly, but for the moment that is not the problem.

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There are lots of articles about how you can save money by changing your lifestyle, sometimes even turning it completely upside down. I have even preached about such things as downsizing your home and even giving up your car and of course when you do those things you will save a ton of money. Those are real ways to do it if you are ready to really make big changes in your life like when you are entering into retirement or after the kids are gone and off on their own.

Yet there are other little ways to save a lot by cutting out just a few of the small guilty pleasures in your life. People also write about some of those obvious money wasters and non-essentials such as Starbucks lattes and the high cost of cable premium channels that can really add up your expenses every month. But, life is too short to give up all of the little perks in life you love, isn’t it?

Grocery shopping should be a very simple task, but it isn’t. First of all, it’s pretty much a requirement for you or someone in your family to do it—every week. They should be making a list, heading out to the store, buying what you really need, then coming back home to unload and put it all away. It’s very similar to washing your hair, according to the instructions, repeat the process, and do it all again next week…forever.

You may think you’ll be making a quick trip to the grocery store, but two hours later, you come home with tons of grocery bags and hundreds of dollars gone from your bank account. So then, how can anyone suggest that big name elite supermarkets (like Whole Foods or Wegmans) can ever be a way to save money?

Your retirement is something you think about with a smile and some pleasant thoughts even though it might seem like it’s light-years away. But if you get to your golden years with insufficient funds, it’s guaranteed to be a nightmare and very unpleasant! You don’t want to live through that scenario, I promise you.

Saving up enough money over a 45-year career to maintain your lifestyle in retirement is pretty challenging. But there’s a lot to be learned from the people who have managed to hit their savings goals well before that point, people who then retire early. You can learn a lot even if you haven’t been bitten by the early-retirement bug. That’s why it’s important to concentrate and learn about these three things you can learn from early retirees when you think that your retirement is at hand. But before you find out the answers…

Let’s get right to the point here. Is there anything that you spend more on every week than food? It’s the number one thing that we all spend money on every week and it involves a lot of thought and care if you want to have money left over for other things you must take care of. That’s why cheap meals are such a good idea no matter your budget. There’s no avoiding food forever, skipping it entirely for a while, or thinking of it as the very “last thing” you need to concern yourself about. If you do that and it works for you, write to me and let me learn something new please. Having said that…

Today I’d like to talk about some great meals that you (and even I) can plan and prepare that don’t break the bank or budget. Yes, these are meals you can plan, cook, and enjoy on the cheap. I have tried them all and although I don’t want to eat all of them over and over every week, they can be mixed in with other food choices and help really cut your food bills. So let’s get right to it and begin: my top five money-saving meals that cost under $2.50 each!

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